Agnes Scott College (ASC), a private liberal arts college for women in metropolitan Atlanta, proposes to increase women's participation in the behavioral and biomedical sciences by enhancing opportunities for students and faculty to conduct research and engage in research training. The college has nominated an Extramural Associate (EA) to direct these efforts. The project includes a ten week residency at the NIH that is designed to: 1) increase the EA's knowledge of the NIH and related agencies'research and research training funding opportunities;2) enhance the EA's skills in preparing research grant proposals;(3) help ASC to develop collaborative and consortium arrangements with other academic institutions for the purpose of promoting biomedical and behavioral research;(4) guide the EA in increasing student participation in research;and (5) assist the EA in effectively guiding students toward careers in science and research. After completion of the residency portion of the activity, the EA would return to ASC to establish an Office of Research Development and the initiate a competitive funding program that fosters a research-active culture. Together, these activities would address the main obstacles to success in external funding of research at a small liberal arts college for women: Time to write up research results for presentation and publication;Time to develop collaborative relationships with faculty at Atlanta-area research institutions;Knowledge and time needed to prepare and submit research proposals to federal agencies and private foundations. This project is relevant to public health because of the need for a diverse workforce engaged in advancing the frontiers of behavioral and biomedical research.